JackOTerror
by Relm Wanderer
Summary: RSBI Halloween fic 2005 - It's autumn in Parnee and everyone is getting ready for their annual pumpkin carving contest. All seemed well for Lina until she woke up that morning... Why is the room suddenly so big?


_Author's Notes: This is RSBI's 2005 Halloween fic. Halloween has got to be the only time of the year when you see stories that are both scary and funny. Though this fic isn't going to scare the crap out of you it does have some darker elements towards end. And since I didn't want to rate this as M because most of the fic is K worthy I'll say this, beware to those that are squeamish. _

_Kinda couple free, maybe just some extremely minor L/Z, but it's more in a teasing fashion. I typically do not like to through biases into Halloween fics. Halloween is supposed to be about terror not fluffy romance. Amelia is not in this fanfic, and I can't for the life of me remember why. She's almost in every single slayers fanfic I write so I don't know why I didn't throw her in this one. _

**Jack-O-Terror**

By Relm

A thick mist rolled into the small town of Parnee on a crisp autumn night. The streets were cold and quiet; many had retired to their homes and slept soundly in their warm cozy beds. Those few that remained awake stalked through the sleep town with their own agendas. Some were attending to their shady nightly business avoiding the prying eyes of the law. Others had legitimate jobs that demanded ungodly hours. And then there were those that couldn't sleep and sat around talking of the town's gossip over a friendly game of cards.

"I raise you twenty." A man with pale skin and sunken eyes threw some more chips into the growing pile. The chips made clanging noises as the added weight made the pile fan out further on the table. Inwardly the man smiled. He had nothing good in his hand but his fellow card players seemed to be buying his bluff.

"Riley you'd better have something good. Otherwise if I lose to you bluffing one more time I'll pound ya!" Glenn threatened his friend.

"Then I take it you're planning on folding Glenn?" Riley grinned toothily at Glenn.

Glenn muttered under his breath as he threw down his cards. "Yeah I fold. What about you Julia?"

A woman in her early forties frowned at her cards. "I'll see the twenty." Julia tossed some chips in. "Did you hear about what happened to the Lockwoods?"

"You mean at the Kyleson Pumpkin Patch?" Ethel threw some chips in.

"What happened?" Glenn frowned in confusion.

"Well I heard that Mr and Mrs Lockwood took their twin girls to the Kyleson farm to pick out a pumpkin for Halloween. But they were there too late because they had to go after Mr. Lockwood got home from work. So they didn't get there till after dark." Julia started to explain.

"The Kylesons still do their pumpkin selling even at night? I thought they do their business during the day."

"They do Glenn. But this is their busy season so they do let the late comers do their picking. Anyways it was pretty late and the twins couldn't decide what pumpkin to get. Mr. Kyleson went to get something from his home and when he came back the whole family had disappeared!" Julia exclaimed.

"Not that stupid urban myth about the Kyleson farm again!" Riley groaned. "Someone always goes 'missing' after going there at night, blah blah blah."

"It's true this time! They really did go missing!" Julia insisted.

"Probably ran off with the pumpkin without paying." Riley countered back.

"They didn't take one. And seriously no one has seen them since."

"Maybe they went out on a vacation and just left town." Ethel suggested.

"I'm a little lost what exactly makes people disappear at the farm?" Glenn frowned in confusion yet again.

"Yeah I forgot you haven't been in town for too many years. Basically there is stupid spooky myth that ties with the farm. Apparently the ancestors of the Kyleson's had their land put under a curse by an evil witch. It is said that this witch was angered by the Kyleson's and she cursed their land so that by night whatever they grew would turn evil and monstrous. And around good old Halloween the most evil night of the year the produce would become carnivorous and eat whatever poor souls dare near!" Riley exclaimed with sarcastic bravado.

"So the vegetables eat people?" Glenn asked in disbelief.

"Yeah basically."

"That's kinda stupid."

"Well I'm sure the Kyleson's made up the myth to get people not to steal from their farm at night and for the spook factor around Halloween. The eviller the pumpkin the better the jack-o-lantern."

"Yeah and I was always told that Halloween was a day to ward off bad spirits and that it's the most purest night of the year. But I guess that differs from place to place. Either way the myth isn't true and the Lockwoods are fine?" Glenn wondered.

"Absolutely." Riley nodded his head.

...

The fog was especially thick at the Kyleson's farm, more so around the pumpkin patch. There were many beautifully round pumpkins laying side by side. This year's batch turned out to be the best the Kyleson farm had ever seen. Almost all of them were beautiful. In fact there was only one pumpkin that lacked the other's perfection. This pumpkin was misshapen. Areas of it poked out in bumps while other parts dented inward. It was not a round pumpkin; it was lopsided and dotted with warts. To make things worse this pumpkin wasn't a golden orange, it looked sickly with its' mixed shades of green, orange and yellow and it's stem was crooked and pointing to the side. This pumpkin was quite possibly the ugliest of all pumpkins in history. No one picked it to take home. It sat there knowing very well that no one wanted it. Normally a pumpkin in this position would be depressed (if pumpkins could feel) but not this pumpkin. This pumpkin was angry, very angry.

...

Lina opened a lazy eye as she woke. She felt sluggish and very tired. Every part of her body told her to stay in bed, except the most demanding part, her stomach. She was hungry and enough to wake her.

Lina yawned and stretched as she hopped off the bed. She had expected to land on her feet but for some strange reason she misjudged and ended up falling on the floor.

"What the...?" Lina got up to look around to see what caused her to fall when she noticed something. She was standing next to her Parnee inn room bed and her head was just eye level with the mattress. Either the whole room got bigger or she got a lot smaller. "What is going on here?"

...

"Just give me a cup of coffee." Zelgadis demanded once again to his waiter.

"I'm sorry kid I don't think your mommy and daddy would be too happy with me serving a youngster like yourself coffee. That's a big person drink. How about I get you some juice instead?" The waiter smiled at Zelgadis.

"I'm not a kid!"

"That's right. You're a big boy. And I'll come back with your big boy juice."

Zelgadis rolled his eyes but chose not to say out loud the obscenities floating around through his mind. Instead he chose to glared daggers at the waiter as he walked off. "Idiot." He muttered taking another sip of his water.

"So it happened to you too?" The voice of a young girl caught Zelgadis' attention.

His first thought was Lina but the rational part of his mind told him that Lina didn't sound that young. He was going to ignore the kid but his curiosity got the best of him and looked to the source of the voice. There before him stood a girl that looked about age six with long crazy wavy red hair that went past her waist and big bright red eyes that matched the same shade as her hair. The main tip off that it was Lina was the very fact that she was wearing the same outfit only much smaller. It was like someone had copied Lina's normal garb and made it for a young child. But they made it in the wrong size, it fit but it was a touch big on the six year old. "Lina?" Zelgadis finally found his voice.

"Yes Zel it's me. I woke up like this. What about you?"

Zelgadis nodded while frowning.

Lina giggled. "Gee you look even cuter while sulking at this age!" Lina teased him, causing a blush from Zelgadis.

Zelgadis too had been reduced to a child like state. But in his case he wasn't just a child version of Zelgadis, he was child chimera version of Zelgadis. Which when he was that age in the past he certainly wasn't a chimera. "I'm glad you can still joke even though someone has turned us into children. We may not be able to change back." Zelgadis grumbled.

"Well you do look cute with you little hood and cape. You're just cranky because they won't give you any coffee."

"What you're happy about being turned into this?"

"You gotta admit there are advantages in being like this. But yeah I'm a little ticked off myself. Any idea who did it?"

"Nope. Have you seen Gourry or Sylphiel yet?"

"No, they're probably still sleeping. It's a good thing Amelia is not with us. She would have been likely turned into a baby."

"Isn't she just a year younger then you?"

"Well she acts younger." Lina muttered.

"Good morning." A pint-sized version of Xellos floated above their table.

"Xellos what the hell are you doing here?" Lina demanded pulling him down to the floor.

"Well Miss Lina please don't be mad at me." Xellos pleaded to Lina.

"What did you do?" Zelgadis joined in. "Did you turn us all into kids?" Zelgadis grabbed Xellos and shook him violently.

"Calm down Zel. He's been turned into a kid too. I highly doubt he'd turn all of us into kids including himself." Lina rationalized.

"Well not on purpose." Xellos said quietly and laughed nervously.

"WHAT? Explain yourself!"

"Alright in favour of Halloween I had planned a little prank. I had intended to turn the four of you into children as a joke. But..."

"It backfired and you were changed too." Lina finished.

"Yes."

"How do we change back?" Zelgadis shook Xellos again.

"Well there is this gem that can reverse the spell by holding it."

"Where is it?"

"I gave it to the town to use as a prize for their annual jack-o-lantern contest."

Lina and Zelgadis facefaulted.

"When does this contest happen?"

"Tomorrow."

"Xellos you are such a pain." Lina bopped him on the head.

"Why am I little?" A young Gourry asked walking over to Lina, Zelgadis and Xellos with an equally young Sylphiel in tow.

"It's all Xellos fault."

"Oh okay. Can I get food now?"

...

After the breakfast mayhem Lina and company went in search of information and tools. They found out what exactly the contest was about and what was needed. There were different categories that got minor prizes but the best prize would be awarded to the scariest or most original pumpkin. They had no way of knowing which category's award was the gem they were looking for but Lina assumed the gem was the big prize but just to be safe she decided that everyone would carve a pumpkin, including Xellos as this was all his fault.

"How hard can it be to find a damned set of knives?" Lina yelled as they walked out of another store.

"Well you need very special knives to carve the pumpkins." Xellos surmised. "And it is their annual contest so it's not surprising they would be out of them the day before the contest."

Lina glared at Xellos.

"Why can't we just use regular knives?" Sylphiel asked while licking a lollipop.

"Because they... where did you get that?" Lina eyed the candy on a stick that Sylphiel was enjoying.

"The shopkeeper gave it to me for Halloween. If you were more polite Miss Lina you would have gotten some too." Sylphiel chided.

"Well anyway because we look like kids no one will sell us a normal set of knives. Not unless we can get some sucker to buy some for us."

"Or we could steal some." Zelgadis pointed out.

All five of them waited for a speech on right and wrong and were confused when no one said anything.

"I forgot that Amelia wasn't with us." Lina grinned sheepishly. "But yeah I haven't exactly tried my magic to see how good it is in this form. Besides if we get caught they probably won't let us enter the contest."

"Can't we just steal the prize and not bother with the pumpkins?"

"We'll steal it if we don't win."

"So what do we do now?"

"Anybody know how to hypnotize someone?"

...

Later that day the Kyleson farm was especially busy. A lot of the town's families had left it to the last moment to buy their pumpkins. It was a mad house. "Alright everyone. Split up and look for the best pumpkin and meet back here. We don't have a lot of daylight left so time is of the essence. Any questions?"

Gourry raised his hand. "What are we doing again?"

"Sylphiel?"

"Yes?"

"Go with Gourry. Make sure he doesn't hurt himself."

Sylphiel giggled.

...

The pumpkin hunt was on. With the pumpkin supply being so good one would assuming choosing one would be easy. And it was for the most part. In no time Zelgadis, Xellos, Sylphiel and even Gourry picked their pumpkins. (Well Sylphiel picked Gourry's for him.) Zelgadis, Sylphiel and Gourry picked modest sized pumpkins. Xellos had somehow ended up with the largest pumpkin from the whole patch.

Lina however did not have as much luck. True all the pumpkins were beautiful and perfect, but Lina like any of them at all.

"Hi there little missy. Need some help picking you pumpkin?" Jon Kyleson asked Lina with a big smile on his face.

"No." Lina answered flatly not even looking up at him.

Jon Kyleson's smile became strained. "But sweetie it's getting quite dark and you seem to be having trouble picking a pumpkin."

"I don't need any help; can you leave me alone now?" Lina glared at him.

"Wow you sure are an adorable little girl." Jon Kyleson said in an equally strained voice.

"Okay, you can leave now." Lina shooed him away.

"Alright I'll be over there if you need me."

"Yeah okay." Lina mumbled not even looking at him.

Jon Kyleson shook his head while walking off.

"Lina would you just pick a pumpkin already? It's cold and Gourry keeps whining that he's hungry." Zelgadis complained.

"I need to find the right one. Don't rush me." Lina glared at Zelgadis.

"What about that one?" Zelgadis pointed to a pumpkin to Lina's right. It was round and perfect.

Lina grimaced. "Nah that wouldn't work."

"What's wrong with it? It's perfect looking!"

"I don't want something that looks perfect. It's boring. If I'm going to win that contest I want something that will scare the crap of out everyone."

"So you want an ugly pumpkin?"

Lina nodded. "Yup that's right."

"Okay because the only ugly one I saw was down there." Zelgadis pointed to the far edge of the patch.

Lina walked over to the pumpkin in question.

The evil pumpkin glared at Lina with its' invisible eyes.

Lina examined the pumpkin very closely. She could feel the evil energy radiating from the ugly vegetable. "It's perfect!"

The pumpkin's anger subsided.

"Okay so Lina gets the ugly pumpkin. Can we go now?" Zelgadis complained.

"Mister Xellos how are you going carry that massive pumpkin?" Sylphiel's eyes were quite wide with wonder.

...

The very next evening Parnee began their annual jack-o-lantern contest. There were many entrants all with interesting carved pumpkins. The competition was fierce; this was going to be a hard one to judge.

There were a few pumpkins that stood out among them. One of those was Xellos massive sized pumpkin. It was a wonder how he managed to move the thing, but Xellos wasn't divulging any secrets. His was probably the most creative of all the pumpkins. Instead of going for a very intricate pattern Xellos opted for a simple one. Big round eyes and large oval mouth. What made this pumpkin so special' Xellos kept the innards of the pumpkin when he gutted it and made it appear that his pumpkin was vomiting its' pulp and seeds. He was particularly proud of his creation and was sure he had a good chance at being one of the finalists.

Sylphiel's wasn't one of those that stood out, and she was sure she wouldn't win. She was never any good at carving pumpkins so she went for something simple as well. But she made up for it by adding sparkles and paint to make it pretty. Unfortunately for Sylphiel that seemed like a popular thing to do, many pumpkins had been painted. Gourry's pumpkin looked crude at best, it was no art piece and you couldn't even make out what it was that he carved as a pattern. Was it a face or a picture?

As the saying goes life imitates art, and that was true with Zelgadis. His pumpkin looked annoyed and broody. He had it angled so it was looking at Xellos' pumpkin.

There were many other pumpkins to look at, some were pretty, some were goofy and then there was the scariest one of all. This pumpkin looked so evil that it scared the other kids and put fear in the hearts of the onlookers. If you haven't already guessed it, this pumpkin was Lina's. Her pumpkin's face looked deformed with one eye lower and the other one bigger. Its' nose was big and was crooked to one side and its' mouth was full of fierce fangs and seemed to be smiling. For added effect Lina had splashed red dye in around the mouth making it looked like it had just ate someone alive. And if that wasn't the icing on the cake Lina had put her artistic abilities to the test and made the face appear that it was melting at the corners. Lina was very proud of her pumpkin. She was sure that either she or Xellos was going to win.

"All right everyone it's time to start the contest! Would all entrants please light up the candles in your pumpkins!" The MC announced.

Lina was tickled pink when she saw her final product lit up, it looked even more goolish. Other children had similar experiences and the crowd oohed and aahed.

The evil pumpkin blinked and grinned a little more.

The audience gasped as Lina's pumpkin came to life. It grew several times its' size and then sprouted vine like legs and arms. It was massive looming over the people while flexing its' claws.

A person screamed beginning the chorus of mayhem as everyone ran for their lives. The evil pumpkin seemed to laugh as it walked slowly with thunderous steps. It reached down and scooped up three people. The people screamed as the pumpkin threw them in its' mouth and began chewing. Bones crunched snapping like twigs as the evil pumpkins feast had begun.

Lina very calmly walked up to the MC and tugged on his sleeve.

The MC looked down at Lina still dumbfounded at what was transpiring.

"My jack-o-lantern is clearly the scariest. Can I have my prize now?"

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!


End file.
